Manage My Employees

Employees give the level of service that leaders demand and reward.

With these economic tough times you’d think businesses would be incentivizing, hammering on, or at least training employees to go out of their way to give out-of-the-way service.

But, where’s the service? I rarely see extraordinary service. 

Have you noticed just how little follow-up after the sale service occurs? How little employees and owners care?

My furniture store doesn’t follow-up after the sale. We spent $$ recently on furniture. The salesman didn’t follow up to see how we liked it. We followed up when a flaw in one chair was uncovered. We called the salesman. He called the distribution and service center, they called us. He said he’d follow-up with the distribution folks. I don’t know if he did or not, because he never called.

My mechanic follows up, though. Every time. The new car dealer we’ve purchased from for years follows up every single visit, whatever the reason. Repair the wiper blades, they call!

Normally, I might be tempted to complain to the dealership that “enough is enough already” … but kudos to them for doing something that takes a little extra time, but shows a lot of CARE!

Now, why can’t the furniture store do that? Not enough time or not enough CARE?

We checked out lots of furniture stores lately, and we weren’t exactly shoving our way past hordes of customers to get to their couches and chairs. Scant few customers left too many salespeople standing around with nothing to do.

If I owned the store I’d pass out customer lists and have salespeople calling during down time.

Thanking customers. Telling customers how much the store appreciates their business. Asking customers if there’s anything they (or friends) need right now. Offering to mail them a special customer loyalty 15% off coupon. Anything that says we CARE to take a little extra time to make sure you’re satisfied and will want to return!

One of my first clients 23 years ago was a funeral home. The owner’s marketing wasn’t sophisticated but it was effective. He hand-clipped positive articles about local people then mailed it to them along with a hand-written note. He told me  he was shocked at how many people called or wrote him back, thanking him for taking the time and for his kind note.

Service, is an action not a word. Employees act on what they’re told but more importantly, what they see leaders do.

Leaders that set the right customer culture and constantly reinforce it through their own actions, as well as through coaching and reward, woo customers back for life.

 “The key to the bottom-line is to get front-line employees giving top-of-the-line service!” Mark Holmes